'Baby Borrowers': Lizards and snakes and mice, oh my!

As you may recall, the big question at the end of last week's Baby Borrowers was whether Sasha was truly done with the show or whether she was just having a momentary hissy fit. The answer, almost certainly was "momentary hissy fit," but hypothetically it could have been something more. The truth of the matter is, whichever the answer proved to be, it was an unacceptable display of parenting skills (or lack thereof) on Sasha's part.

Tonight's episode quickly ended the cliffhanger - Sasha was staying put. Jordan calmed her down enough so that she said she'd stay, but Sasha still couldn't accept the fact that it was possible that the constructive criticism about her parenting skills was accurate. Maybe the producers realized that she might actually quit, because they only gave her one pre-teen this week, and quite an easy one to handle at that.

Kelly and Austin's pre-teens, all three of them, barged right on into their house, complete with their lizards, snakes, mice (the snake food... allegedly), and whatever other nasty things they were hiding. They ran around, yelling, screaming, and generally being kids. Austin was clearly displeased, telling the camera he'd rather have the pets and put the kids in the cage. I'm not entirely sure he was wrong.

Austin took off for work and the three pre-teens quickly began tearing up the sod in the backyard. It got ugly, very ugly. Mud pies were tossed around the yard and the play structure got awfully dirty as did the brand-new white fence. At least they weren't physically violent, but we'll get to those kids later.

Kelsey and Sean were told that their pre-teens didn't eat meat. In turn, Kelsey informed us that she doesn't eat fruits and vegetables. Sounds like a match made in heaven, Kelsey could make a full dinner with all the trimmings and just give the kids the sides.

Personally though, I was hoping that she or Sean would, as under the table as possible, slide a nice steak or hamburger over to the kids. Sure, that might make me a bad person, but you know that it would have made for great TV, admit it, it's okay.

During that first day, Morgan took her kid to a rock-climbing wall and explained that it was important to be friends with your kid and yet still parent them. It may have sounded all well and good (and almost scripted), but it was clear that Morgan was far more interested in the friend side of things than the parenting. That night, when Morgan and her kid were playing fort past the kid's bedtime, Daton ended up taking his pillow and sleeping in a different room. I wonder what she'll be doing next week with the teenagers. Maybe they'll all go out and get some beer.

Alicea and Cory were told that their two pre-teen girls had physical fights and that they would have to break the kids up. The older girl, seemingly for almost the whole three days, yelled and screamed and complained. At first, Alicea opted, rather than trying to redirect the anger, to ignore the girl. Mom had to come and talk to Alicea and, shockingly, Alicea took it all very well.

Maybe she took it too well, because the next morning Cory found out that they'd be hosting a sleepover that night for all the pre-teens. None of the other couples would be allowed to attend to help out. What could possibly be better? Oh, I know! The troublemaker, Hannah, locking Cory out of the house, that was definitely a highlight this week. Once he was back in the house, Cory did his best to make her understand that what she did was wrong. He teased her a little, which may not have been the best way to go, but in the end, Hannah apologized and seemed sincere about it. Even the sleepover went well. Maybe Cory and Alicea have learned something.

With the kids out, in an attempt to apologize for the previous night, Morgan cooked a decent looking dinner for Daton. The silence during the meal was deafening. Morgan did at one point ask if he wanted to go to the skate park with her after dinner and he replied, almost silently, in the negative. Just as she was feeling truly unsure about her relationship, the doorbell rang and Daton's best friend showed up. The two guys quickly headed out for a walk and Daton confessed to the camera that he becomes a bad person around Morgan. He was hugely unsure of the relationship.

The rest of the adults, save Cory and Alicea, each had one of their friends visit for a couple of hours. Just like Daton, Kelly chose to head out with her friend rather than stay in the house with Austin.. Austin had something of a breakdown due to it and Kelly confessed to her friend that Austin was not always her cup of tea. She tried placating him once she returned, but to no avail.

The next morning the kids all got handed back to their actual parents, debriefs were head, and nothing truly shocking occurred whatsoever. However, I wonder how many of these couples will reassess their relationships by the end of the show. No fewer than two of them are on shaky ground (Kelly even talked to the camera at the end of the episode about the possibility of breaking up with Austin), and that's not including Cory and Alicea. They may look solid, but did you notice that she said "He'll be a great dad when he has kids" when talking about Cory rather than saying "He'll be a great dad when we have kids?" That's one of those things you look back on after they breakup and say "See, I knew it! Right at that moment, I knew it!"

Another thought and some questions:

During the debrief, Mom told Kelsey that if she didn't eat right it would be hard to make sure that her kids, when she has them, eat right, and that they'd end up being overweight. Tough talk from mom, maybe not inaccurate, but it hurt Kelsey who felt that it was slightly out of bounds.

The questions of the week - how many of these couples last till the end of the season (we were promised that next week someone is going home)? How many of them last longer? How many of them actually have kids of their own at some point?